Chapter 354 - 243: Let’s Go to the Battle Hall Tomorrow
"What are you doing here? When did you get in?" Su Zhi sized up Wu Bao, who was only slightly larger than Yu Bao, a smile creeping into his eyes.
Thanks to Wu Bao’s relentless training, its Doubling Skill had grown more and more proficient. It could now shrink its body to a mere fraction of its original size. It hadn’t practiced enlarging as much, but it could still grow to at least twice its normal size.
Wu Bao had miraculously mastered this Skill—one that normally required a Two-star Energy Value to awaken—through self-training.
Su Zhi was discovering that his three Pet Beasts were all quite a handful, each one showing off its own unique Divine Abilities...
’Is this the law of like-attracts-like? Do ridiculous Beast Tamers attract ridiculous Pet Beasts?’
"WOO!" Wu Bao’s eyes sparkled as it looked at Su Zhi with a pleading gaze.
"Of course you can," Su Zhi said with a light chuckle.
After learning that he was going to Hundred Rivers, Wu Bao had been looking forward to it for a long time.
Before returning to Huai City, Su Zhi hadn’t planned on bringing Wu Bao along. After all, he hadn’t yet awakened his Tier Five Beast Taming Space, and Wu Bao’s body was simply too large to be suitable for public transport.
But Wu Bao’s unexpected mastery of Doubling made Su Zhi change his mind. At its shrunken size, boarding a plane would be no problem at all; he’d just need to buy an extra ticket for a Pet Beast.
Although Hundred Rivers was currently in a period of seismic inactivity, it was always better to be cautious. Another Pet Beast meant more strength on his side.
"CHIRP!" Hearing that big brother Wu Bao could come along too, Shan Bao flapped its wings cheerfully.
"Wooo~" Wu Bao wiggled its tentacles at Yu Bao, letting out a boastful cry.
Yu Bao scoffed disdainfully.
’Such a loser. What’s there to be so arrogant about? Shan Bao and I can still cuddle in the Beast Taming Space, while Wu Bao can only stare helplessly from the outside.’
Su Zhi cut them off just in time. "How about we eat first? There’s a quiz today, and we’ll need energy..."
"WOOF!" "WOO!" "CHIRP!"
The three treasures instantly reached a consensus and headed for the dining area. Su Zhi was left alone in the bedroom. He paused for a moment, then followed them, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
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Huai City First Middle School, the school’s Battle Hall.
Text scrolled across the large screen, displaying information about the ongoing quiz: "No. 13 Su Zhi - Shan Bao (Flash Gold Sparrow) vs. No. 37 Katie - Bilang (Turbulent Duck)"
"QUACK!" "CHIRP!"
On the battle stage, Bilang focused its firepower, launching a fierce assault on Shan Bao. Even with the Energy Barrier containing the arena, a good amount of spray still flew over the top and splashed onto the surrounding spectator seats.
After evolving from a Hao Waterfowl into a Turbulent Duck, its offensive capabilities had taken a qualitative leap. Just watching from the sidelines was enough to leave one feeling breathless and suffocated.
And amidst the violent waves, a streak of Golden Light darted back and forth like a fearless petrel.
Shan Bao’s gaze was focused, its movements agile, as it precisely searched for a weak point in Bilang’s assault, waiting for a chance to break through.
If not for its overly tender and young appearance, the scene might have even looked quite heroic.
"Go, Shan Bao! Fly bravely, Shan Bao!"
"I’ll love Bilang forever, ahhh!"
"Go, both of you~! Mommy will give a kiss to whoever wins~!"
"Get lost! We don’t want any male mommies!"
The battle on the stage raged on, and the students in the audience were just as fired up.
Getting to see two of the team competition’s top players serve up a tournament-level, spectacular duel during a routine quiz? This was a total steal, wasn’t it?
"CHIRP!"
After a bit of a back-and-forth, Shan Bao used Flash Gold Teleportation to fly near Bilang, taking it down with a Hardening and Super Heavy Gold Fall combo.
The victorious Shan Bao puffed out its chest, mimicking Yu Bao by striking a powerful pose.
Katie stuck out her tongue with a smile. "I lost. God Su is as amazing as they say."
"Not at all. Bilang is very strong too, it’s just that the organization of its attack patterns was a bit lacking," Su Zhi replied with a modest smile.
’But on the inside, he felt damn good... Who could resist showing off, anyway...?’
Katie walked off the stage, while Su Zhi remained. The next match was a fated battle: Yu Bao versus Xiaoyue.
This quiz was even more of a heavyweight match. The students’ enthusiasm didn’t wane in the slightest; instead, it reached an unprecedented high.
Zhou Shengfa watched from afar, a smug smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
In reality, the quizzes had always suffered from a high rate of students skipping them. The school had repeatedly emphasized cracking down on discipline, but it was like treating the symptoms instead of the root cause.
So, Zhou Shengfa had pulled some strings and scheduled the quizzes for the four Illusion Gods for the very end. In order not to miss the series of spectacular duels, all the students stayed until the final match, resulting in an unbelievable 100% attendance rate for both check-in and check-out.
Everyone got to feast their eyes on a great show, and he exceeded the school’s metrics. A win-win!
As Katie stepped off the stage, she noticed Liu Yuhang looking at her and blinked. "Have you been watching the whole time?"
Liu Yuhang stood at attention and nodded. "Yeah."
A smile grew in Katie’s eyes. She glanced toward the stage and nodded with a sigh. "Too bad I couldn’t win. God Su is just too strong!"
"You both fought really well..." Liu Yuhang blurted out instinctively.
Katie froze for a second, then turned her head away.
Liu Yuhang immediately shut his mouth, instantly filled with regret. ’She just got her butt kicked, and here I am praising her for fighting well. How clueless can I be...’
’Huh? Wait, why is her face a little red?’
"Pfft." Katie couldn’t help but let out a clear, crisp laugh.
Noticing Liu Yuhang’s gaze, she quickly turned her head away again, trying to hide the faint blush on her face.
She herself didn’t even realize that the blush had already crept down her cheeks to the base of her neck.
Liu Yuhang tentatively peeked over. "Wh-What’s wrong...?"
"It’s nothing. Okay, okay, it’s about to start! Let’s focus on God Su’s match!"
"Oh, right!"
On the stage, Su Zhi and Shao Ya each walked to their command positions. Yu Bao and Xiaoyue were also ready. The fated battle between the arrogant big brother and the rebellious little brother had begun.
The students were cheering wildly at the edge of the stage, shouting that this was awesome, some even had glow sticks ready.
This was a clash between the number one Pet Beasts of Class 10, equivalent to a semi-final in the municipal league!
However, spectators at the municipal league could at best sit in the front row, but as classmates of these two titans, everyone in Class 10 could crowd around the edge of the stage and watch this spectacular duel for free, so close they could even see the sleep in Yu Bao’s eyes.
Praise God Su! Praise the Great Emperor!
One student even started a livestream on a certain video app, and specially shared the link with classmates who didn’t have a quiz today.
This act, equivalent to flexing on everyone late at night, was met with unanimous condemnation from friends in other classes. A glance at the bullet comments showed they were filled with envy and saltiness.
However, the number of viewers in the stream kept increasing. Everyone was complaining, but their actions betrayed them; no one was passing up the chance to watch a spectacular match for free.
Zhou Shengfa also joined the livestream. Seeing the passive-aggressive bullet comments from the form teacher of the class next door using a smurf account, he felt a wave of satisfaction and used his own smurf account to gift the student streamer a premium subscription.
"DING—"
As the battle bell rang, sand and wind surged, and vines shot out. Two different colors collided, intertwined, and merged on the stage, resembling a stunning ink wash painting.
With the atmosphere hyped up like this, neither Pet Beast bothered with any preliminaries; they went straight into an all-out, intense battle from the get-go!
Even though it was just a routine class quiz, neither Pet Beast held back, somehow managing to fight at the same level as they did back in the municipal league.
For Xiaoyue, this was a battle to establish seniority. For Yu Bao, this was the perfect opportunity for insubordination!
On the stage, both sides unleashed their Skills, their transitions between offense and defense a dazzling display. It certainly hadn’t been a waste of time for the students who resisted the urge to skip class.
Below the stage, Liu Yuhang and Katie stood very close together, staring at the stage with serious expressions, looking like two dense blockheads.
"Um..."
"What is it?"
"This is for you!" Liu Yuhang pulled out two dark green tickets.
Katie’s eyes widened slightly as she took them. They were reserved admission tickets for the Municipal Battle Hall, dated for tomorrow.
"I’ve already bought the tickets for tomorrow. Let’s go train at the Battle Hall together then!"
Liu Yuhang took a deep breath and finally spat out the line he had been rehearsing all night.
Katie watched him trying so hard not to be nervous and blinked mischievously. "Did you go out of your way to buy physical tickets? Why not just book them on WeChat? It’s more convenient."
Liu Yuhang froze. "Ah, digital tickets would have been better, huh..."
"But this is great too. Thanks, anyway."
Katie tucked the dark green tickets into her innermost pocket, patting it with her hand as the corners of her mouth curled up uncontrollably.
’Of course physical tickets are better. I can keep them with me forever... You dummy.’
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